Gyanvapi | Restrain Media From Publishing 'False News' About ASI Survey: Mosque Committee's Application In Varanasi Court

An application has been filed by the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi, in the District Court to restrain the electronic and print media from publishing 'false news' about the ongoing ASI Survey of the Gyanvapi premises. 

The application has been moved in the pending Shringar Gauri Worshipping suit of 2022 filed by 4 Hindu Women Worshippers seeking year-round access to worship inside the Mosque premises.

The application states that the ASI or its officials have not made any statement pertaining to the ongoing survey, however, social media, print media and electronic media are arbitrarily spreading wrong and false news about it.

"They have been publishing and disseminating information related to the areas inside the mosque which have not been surveyed to date, due to which, there is a wrong impact on the daily life of the public and different types of things are being generated in the minds of the public and the enmity is spreading," the application adds.

It may be noted that the ASI is presently conducting a scientific survey of the Gyanvapi complex in Varanasi as per the July 21 order of the Varanasi District Judge to determine if the mosque was constructed over a pre-existing structure of a Hindu temple. Today is the sixth consecutive day of the survey.

On August 4, the Supreme Court refused to stop the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) from carrying out a survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque at Varanasi, except the 'wuzukhana' area where a 'shivling' was claimed to have been found last year.